


15 Shades of Glitter

by ms_josephine



Series: Getting My Groove Back. 30 Day One Word Destiel Prompts Challenge [9]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, An obscene amount of sparkly gifts, Barbie Dolls, Biromantic Castiel (Supernatural), Birthday Presents, Bisexual Dean Winchester, Charlie to the rescue, Demisexual Castiel (Supernatural), Grumpy Cat - Freeform, M/M, Nail Polish, Past Castiel/Amelia Novak, Toy Store, mentions of past infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ms_josephine/pseuds/ms_josephine
Summary: Castiel is at a complete loss as to what to get his daughter for her birthday. After explaining his plight to his fellow shopper Dean, the other man offers his help.





	15 Shades of Glitter

**Author's Note:**

> Day 9- Nail Polish
> 
> I know that's technically 2 words, but my daughter gave me this prompt and insisted I use it.

Castiel stood in the little toy store in the mall staring at the Barbie dolls. He had no idea what to get. Would a new doll be good? What about these play houses? He didn’t think Claire had a Barbie house. They’re very large though. Would she even have room for this? Maybe that accessory kit would work? Twenty-five different outfits. That seems a bit excessive as well. How many outfits could one doll need? This one says it’s a collectible… That probably means she can’t play with it. Maybe this one-

A man cleared his throat beside him. “Hey man. You need help?”

Without taking his eyes off of the toys in front of him, Castiel replied, “No, thank you. Just looking.”

“You sure? You’ve been staring at this stuff for almost ten minutes.”

Castiel took a deep breath and let it out loudly. “Maybe I could use some advice.”

“Ok. Well, who’re you shopping for?”

Still frowning in concentration at the overwhelmingly pink display, Castiel answered, “My daughter. She’s turning thirteen next week.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes.”

“And she wants Barbie stuff?” His disbelieving tone registered with Castiel. He finally turned to look at the employee. The man was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, a flannel overshirt, and a jacket. He held a few shopping bags in one hand. He was looking at the same wall with an incredulous expression on his face. This… was _not_ an employee. “Oh. My apologies. I thought you worked here.”

The man met Castiel’s eyes and he huffed a little laugh. “Nah man. Noticed you when I came in. Passed by this isle a few times and you still hadn’t moved. Figured I’d help ya out.”

“That’s very kind of you. I suppose I could use another opinion. I have no idea what accessories Barbies need.”

“Well, are you sure she _wants_ Barbie stuff?”

“What’s wrong with Barbies?”

The man puts his bags down and shrugged before crossing his arms. “Nothin man. It’s just… Barbies are kind of for younger kids. I mean, I don’t have a daughter but my friend Benny has a girl around that age and she stopped playing with hers when she was around ten. Does yours still play with them?”

“Uh… I’m not sure. I don’t see her that often.”

The man made a noise of understanding. “Divorce?”

“Yes.” Castiel hung his head sadly. “We have joint custody, but she prefers to stay with her mother. Our separation wasn’t exactly amicable. I’m afraid my ex-wife has not given our daughter the best impression of what happened.”

“Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear that man.” The man clapped Castiel on the shoulder. It felt nice. It suddenly occurred to him how long it had been since anyone had touched him with even something as simple as a friendly gesture.

He gave the man a grateful smile, “Thank you. But that was several years ago now. All I can do is keep trying and hope she realizes I still want to be a part of her life.”

“Kids are smart. You keep makin an effort, and she’ll remember that when she comes around.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself. That doesn’t help me in this particular instance though. If Barbies are not a viable option, what do you suggest?”

“Did you try askin your ex?”

“She would just accuse me of not paying enough attention and call me an absent father.”

“Yikes. Ok, uhh…” The other man looked around the store. Castiel took the opportunity to study his profile. He was quite handsome now that he really looked at him. He had light brown hair that was styled with some kind of product, a small amount of stubble, and full lips. He also had little crinkles on the sides of his eyes as he squinted to see across the store. Castiel guessed he was probably in his mid-thirties. “Hmm, does she like puzzles or board games?”

“I-,” Castiel deflated a bit, “I don’t know.”

The stranger looked at him in pity. “Look man, I don’t know your daughter, but I know most teenagers don’t really like toys. My ex’s kid is fourteen and I only get him stuff from here because they have some Minecraft collectibles.”

“What’s Minecraft?”

“Pft. Don’t ask. Umm… Oh! I got it. Hold on a sec!” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and called someone. “Hey Charlie. Can you video chat? Cool.” He lowered his phone and switched the call over. He then moved to stand next to Castiel’s side. On the screen sat a woman with bright orange hair. “Ok, here’s the deal: this here is my new buddy-“

“Castiel.”

“Right, Castiel. I’m Dean by the way. Anyway Char, Castiel here has a daughter who’s turning thirteen. She lives with her mom and Cas is trying to pick out a gift.”

Charlie nodded. “Ok. What store are you guys at?”

“That little toy store in the mall.”

“No, that won’t do. Ok leave the store and turn right. After about eight stores or so, they have a Claire’s. Go there.”

Castiel chuckled. “That’s my daughter’s name.”

Dean laughed too. “See, it was meant to be.”

Dean collected his bags and they left. On the way to the other store, Charlie asked questions about Claire’s likes and dislikes. Castiel couldn’t answer most of them, but Charlie didn’t seem deterred. After a few moments, they reached their destination. The two men stared at the store. The Barbie aisle didn’t hold a candle to the amount of glitter and sparkle in this place. They cautiously entered looking as uncomfortable as they felt. Immediately, they were spotted by a sales girl. “Can I help you?”

“Yes!” Charlie shouted from Dean’s hand. “Pass me over.” The saleswoman barely batted an eye as she took the phone. “My dark-haired friend here needs a thirteen-year-old starter kit for his daughter’s birthday.”

“You’ve come to the right place. I’m sure we can find some things for you.”

The woman ushered them around the little shop loading them down with jewelry, sparkly hair pieces, lotion filled with glitter, and bunch of other little things Castiel couldn’t identify, but Charlie seemed thrilled about. Finally, they reached the make-up. Castiel hesitated, “I don’t know about this. She seems a little young to wear make-up.”

“That’s alright,” answered the sales lady. “Most girls don’t at that age anyway. You could go with lip-gloss?”

“I’m not sure… I’m not really comfortable with that.” Castiel looked imploringly at Dean. “Do you think I’m being ridiculous? She’s too young for all that right?”

Dean smiled. “Nah, I don’t think you are. Kids shouldn’t grow up too fast.”

“What about nail polish?” Charlie suggested. “Kids younger than that wear nail polish all the time.”

“Really?”

“Yes. And I recall several slumber parties where we’d do each other’s nails. We all used to bring our own stuff and compare colors.”

“Hmm. Alright, I suppose that would be ok.”

The saleswoman led them to a display with a large selection of polish. Castiel and Dean looked over all the different options and picked one of the largest kits. It had fifteen different colors of nail polish to choose from and came with a carrying case big enough to fit everything else he had chosen. 

Castiel thanked Charlie profusely for all her help before they ended the call. After ringing everything up, the woman offered to gift wrap his purchases, which he agreed to. She told them it would be around ten minutes and brought everything into a back room. Dean suggested they go to the pretzel stand while they waited and Castiel insisted on buying his as a thank you for all his help.

They sat down at a little table together to eat. “I really can’t thank you enough for all your help Dean.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. Glad to do it.”

“Amelia would have loved me screwing up Claire’s gift. It would have been further proof that I shouldn’t be spending time with her.”

“What is her deal man? Did you cheat on her or somethin?”

“More like she cheated on me.”

Dean’s eyes got wide. “Damn dude.”

“With the neighbor.”

“Wow… Wait, if she’s the one who screwed up, why is Claire taking it out on you?”

Castiel took a bite of his pretzel. “We chose not to tell her. I didn’t want Claire hating her mother. Then, Amelia’s new relationship ended. She tried to reconcile, and I refused. She became angry. Started telling Claire I left because I didn’t want to be there anymore. I don’t want to make it worse by speaking ill of her mother in return. So, I just try and assure her I still love her. I’m not sure what else to do.”

Dean looked dismayed. “That’s really crappy.”

“Yes. I’m just glad our custody arrangement had already been worked out or I suspect she would have tried to get full custody. Though she’s made it very difficult to get Claire to want to spend time with me. Whenever she does come, she just wants to stay in her room.”

“Well, keep at it man. You’re a good guy. She’ll see it eventually. A box full of sparkly crap might help.”

Castiel snorted. “We’ll see.” They both chewed on their pretzels in silence. 

Castiel was feeling old hurts rising to the surface. He had never spoken much about the divorce, but Dean seemed willing to listen. “I just can’t believe her!” Dean jumped a little as he spoke with a little more force than was probably necessary for a mall food court. “Twelve years we were together! Ever since college. We had a family together! I thought everything was fine. How could she just throw all that away?” He could feel tears prickling at his eyes. Crap.

Dean put his hand over Castiel’s. “Hey, come on now. Sometimes people do crappy things. I know you’re upset-“

Castiel cut him off. “I’m not upset!” He took a deep breath and lowered his voice. “I’m not upset. OK, I’m a little upset. But mostly I’m angry. We were a family and she threw that away. She’s such a hypocrite!”

“How is she a hypocrite?”

“When we first started dating, she was constantly worried I’d cheat on her. She was so damn paranoid all the time. Always checking to see where I was. Always asking if she was really enough for me.” Castiel huffed.

“Why would she think all that?”

“Because I’m bi.” He froze. Oh crap. He didn’t mean to out himself like that. I just felt so nice to vent. Now Dean was going to get all weird. 

“You’re bi?” he asked quietly.

Castiel couldn’t meet his eyes. “Um, sort of. Technically, I’m biromantic demisexual. That means-“

“I know what it means.” Dean interrupted. “I’m bisexual myself.”

Castiel looked up at Dean. The other man was smiling widely now. “Oh.”

“Yea. So uh, does this mean you’d be willing to go out to dinner sometime?” Dean waggled his eyebrows and pursed his lips in what appeared to be a blue steel. 

Castiel laughed at his antics. “I would love to go to dinner with you Dean.”

“Awesome.” They chatted and flirted for a few more minutes as well as exchanged phone numbers. “Well, it’s been long enough. Let’s go get Claire’s stuff.”

They retrieved Claire’s gift and headed for the parking lot together. They were almost out of the mall before Castiel noticed a stuffed animal in the window of a store called Hot Topic. He dragged Dean in to buy it. It was an irritated looking cat and he wasn’t sure why, but he thought it was adorable. Dean liked it too. His little girl may be growing up, but in his opinion she was still young enough for a cuddly toy.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!
> 
> Everyone who gives a Kudos gets some virtual glitter sent their way.


End file.
